How to Ask Do You Need a Housekeeper?

Do you need a housekeeper? How about a house cleaner or a maid? Are you nervous about asking the question do you need a housekeeper?

Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says you don’t have to go door to door asking people “Do you need a housekeeper?” But you to have to be top of mind and you need a killer sales pitch and daily marketing.

If you want to get more clients and close more deals you need your new business to shine when prospects are hiring. If you do housework or you lend an extra set of hands to help out when clients are ready to buy.

Today’s Ask a House Cleaners sponsors are Savvy Cleaner Training (for maids.) HouseCleaning360 (another way to get more leads for your cleaning business.) Savvy Perks (a way to save more money for your cleaning business.)

Listen: How to Ask Do You Need a Housekeeper?

Watch: How to Ask Do You Need a Housekeeper?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: How to Ask Do You Need a Housekeeper?

“How do you ask a homeowner if they need a housekeeper? ” That’s a great question, and we’re going to talk about that today.

Do You Need a Housekeeper? Nope!

All right. This is a trick question, because if you ask anyone “do you need a house cleaner?” The answer will always be … ta-da, no.

“No, I don’t.”

Because they’re not in the market to buy a house cleaner or housekeeper. When they are in the market, then they will be asking. So, there’s a fine line of how do you get in front of the person who’s buying?

The answer is you don’t because how do you know when someone’s buying?

So, if you wait until that moment where someone says

“hey, I need a house cleaner.” You’re already a day late and a dollar short because they’ve already gone online. Or they’ve already called someone, and they already have some bids set up. Somebody is on their way over right now to give them a free estimate.

Marketing Eliminates the “Do You Need a Housekeeper?” Conversation

Marketing is where you let people know again and again what you do and how to hire you. It’s part of running a cleaning business. If you wait to market until you need customers, you’ve waited too long.

I know a lot of house cleaners that think they can just show up and clean houses and by referral only, they will work.

Okay, if you are amazing at what you do, that is true. But there’s also this underlying current of marketing that goes on. Doing a stellar cleaning job, looking the part and living up to your brand are all elements of marketing.

Marketing is a Daily Chore

There are things as a business owner you have to do every single day to keep your brand visible in the market. Then when somebody is ready to hire you, they can then jump on the phone or jump on the internet, find you on HouseCleaning360, and close the deal.

But they’re not going to hire you until they need you. It’s like needing a new pair of shoes. You’re not going to run to the store and buy a new pair of shoes because someone said, “hey, there’s a shoe sale going on.” If you don’t need shoes, it doesn’t apply to you. And the same goes for house cleaning and your customers.

And so, there’s no way you’re going to know when people need your service.

Consistent Marketing Keeps the Pipeline Full

Run a flyer. Then in the same neighborhood a month later, run another. Wait a couple of months and run another. Repeat the process every few months.

Now the neighbors who have passed on your service have seen a few impressions of your business. They’ve thought about hiring you. And when they are ready – they know where to find you.

And even if you’ve run flyers, it may take a boost from Nextdoor or a third-party recommendation to seal the deal.

Your Satisfied Customers Can Do the Heavy Lifting

A lot of times people will use things like Nextdoor.com, where they say “I’m searching for a house cleaner.”

And then the neighbors that have hired you that are happy with your work, they will jump on go “oh, you should choose my house cleaner.”

The neighbors then are doing the heavy lifting. It’s not you going, “um, hi, I’m Angela, and I’m hoping that you need a house cleaner.”

Don’t Ask “Do You Need a Housekeeper?”

If you ask people “Do you need a housekeeper?” they will say no. A better question is “who do you know who…”, and then get specific.

I know a house cleaning woman, and she specializes in moms with new babies. So, she says “who do you know that’s pregnant or has new babies?”

And they’re like “Yeah, two of my neighbors.”

“Do they ever need an extra hand? I know sometimes moms get harried with a new baby, and there’s no time to sleep. They’re just burned out, and they just need an extra set of hands.”

“Oh yeah, I was talking to my neighbor the other day…”

“Hey, would you give her my card? If she needs my help, I’m available, but I only have one opening.”

Don’t Be the One Knocking on the Door

You’re not going to the lady, knocking on her door, going “Hey, are you harried? Are you burned out? Have you underslept and do you need some help?”

That might be the case, but if she’s not looking, she’s not going to be receptive to you. You’re a salesman.

But if her friend goes to her and is like “Oh my goodness, you’re not going to believe who I just talked to. I just talked to this house cleaning lady that I met in our neighborhood waiting at the school bus for the kids. And she said she has one opening, and she specializes in moms with new babies.”

The lady will go “Ooh, that sounds like me. I need her help. Do you have her card?”

“I do, here it is.”

And it’s an organic conversation that happens between your neighbors that are in the neighborhoods where you work and not you.

Door Knocking Sometimes Works

This is not you going door to door going; “Hi, do you need a house cleaner?”

And I know house cleaners that have been successful at that. But if you do go knocking door to door, prepare for the no soliciting signs, and slammed doors in your face.

So, if you’re not great at selling, you need to be great at asking questions.

Ask everybody you know, “Hey, who do you know who just had surgery…” or whatever the area is you specialize in.

Niche Down till You Find: “I Need a Housekeeper.”

Don’t offer a general house cleaning. Everybody thinks they need something special. You don’t go to the store for no reason. Wander up and down the isles hoping something pops out at you. That’s not how people buy.

You make a special trip to the store because you’re out of milk. There is a specific reason you even bother going.

Be the specific reason people buy from you.

Marketing Doesn’t Have to Cost a Lot of Money

There are lots of ways to market your business with little or no money. The key to success is to repeat your cleaning business marketing efforts in an organized and consistent fashion.

There are a lot of things you can do that build the brand that keeps you visible in the public eye. This way when people are ready to hire a house cleaner or a housekeeper, who is the first person that comes to their mind? And if the answer is you, you’re hired.

So, my suggestion to you is to be the first person that comes to their mind, and that is how you ask someone if they need a housekeeper.

Disclosure

During the shows we recommend services, sites, and products to help you improve your cleaning and grow your cleaning business. We have partnerships with these companies to provide you with discounts, and savings. By clicking on and buying from the links in the show notes, we may receive a commission which helps pay for the production costs of the show.

Support the show so we can continue to bring you free tips to improve your cleaning and help you grow your cleaning business. THANK YOU!

About the Show

Learn how the show came to be, interesting facts about the show host, and other frequently asked questions about the show.

Resources For This Episode

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out from The Crowd – https://amzn.to/2Oj8qjM

Explosive Growth: A Few Things I Learned While Growing My Startup To 100 Million Users & Losing $78 Million – https://amzn.to/2M52EEO